Apache command cheatsheet

Find DB Version

mariadb --version

mysql --version

When your running your own lamp on vps having a cheatsheet like this for Apache may come in handy. Especially when the rubber hits the road.

Stop your web server

sudo systemctl stop apache2

Start the web server when it is stopped, type:

sudo systemctl start apache2

Stop and then start the service again, type:

sudo systemctl restart apache2

Reload without dropping connections.

sudo systemctl reload apache2

Re-enable the service to start up at boot, type:

sudo systemctl enable apache2

Enable the file with the a2ensite tool:

sudo a2ensite your_domain.conf

Disable the default site defined in 000-default.conf:

sudo a2dissite 000-default.conf

Test for configuration errors:

sudo apache2ctl configtest

REBOOT reboot a server from the command line, run:

sudo shutdown -r now

By default, Apache is configured to start automatically when the server boots. If this is not what you want, disable this behavior by typing:

sudo systemctl disable apache2

Query the state of apache processes

sudo systemctl status apache2.service -l --no-pager

Check apache for config errors

sudo apachectl configtest

Search apache error log

This will only search 2 lines

sudo tail -n 2 /var/log/apache2/error.log

View apache error log

vim /var/log/apache2/error.log

Troubleshooting

Apache not starting

Find out what the problem is:

sudo apachectl configtest

Whenever i delete certificates and then restart the server. then apache fails to start up because some of the certificate files still need to be deleted. All the details for this are output in the configtest log.

UFW

It’s so satisfying and much cheaper to host your own websites on a self managed barebones vps. But if you’re going to host your own websites then you will need to have a firewall running to protect your website from hackers.

Luckily UFW, the default firewall on Linux distributions makes the process of enabling a firewall simple.

What is a website firewall?

A website firewall is a security solution designed to monitor, filter, and block malicious traffic to a website. It helps protect against various online threats, such as hacking attempts, DDoS attacks, and other types of cyber threats by analyzing and filtering incoming web traffic.

What is UFW?

Uncomplicated Firewall (UFW) is a user-friendly command-line interface for managing iptables, which is the default firewall management tool in many Linux distributions. UFW is designed to simplify the process of configuring a firewall by providing a straightforward syntax.

Enable Firewall

sudo ufw enable

Disable Firewall

sudo ufw disable

Status

See what rules are in place

sudo ufw status

Get a bit more information

sudo ufw status verbose

Allow range of ip’s

sudo ufw allow proto tcp from 104.245.210.224/28 to any port 22

Allow range of ip’s with a dry run

sudo ufw --dry-run allow proto tcp from 104.245.210.224/28 to any port 22

Reset all UFW rules

Start from the default ufw configuring your rules

sudo ufw reset

allow access to special port

ufw allow from 1.2.3.4 to any port 7080

To view all blocked threats using Uncomplicated Firewall (ufw), you can check the firewall logs. Use the following command in the terminal:

sudo ufw status | grep BLOCK

This command filters the status output to show only the blocked entries, providing information about blocked threats or unauthorized access attempts.